Written by OJ Fagbire
Sunday, May 27, 2007
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a dream of a hydrogen highway that would run thorough California, to the Canadian Rockies and Vancouver. The dream is part of the Governor’s dream to promote hydrogen technology for a more sustainable motoring future.
Current generation hydrogen cars are getting only about 50 km to the tank, and this means that a hydrogen motorist can never stray too far from a station, as they are at present pretty far and few between.
Advances in the technology promise to greatly increase the functional range of the hydrogen car, but advisors realize that the first step to making the cars feasible, is having enough refueling stations around, so that people can use their cars normally.
Schwarzenegger is envisioning a string of this hydrogen re fueling stations all along the coast line, and is planning on working with other states and the Canadian government to make this plan a reality.
To that effect, the governor has announced a three city Canadian tour to promote the technology.
While initially the Gov had planned for a complete string of refueling stations, the current level of the technology has altered the plans, as these cars are still not technically ready to travel long distances. Instead, the Gov will promote hydrogen refueling stations in all urban centers throughout the hydrogen highway, with the hopes of linking these along the actual highways as the technology improves with time.
The current biggest obstacle to hydrogen cars is their fuel storage capabilities, and engineers are working to try to increase the functional range of these cars.
Hydrogen cars are touted as the future of motoring, as they emit no harmful emissions, and are very efficient.
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